A further 10 COVID exposure sites in the Harvey-Waroona region

A further 10 COVID exposure sites in the Harvey-Waroona region have been added to the Healthy WA website, as the Omicron variant continues to make its way through the state.

Twenty new cases were announced on Sunday, taking the total number of active cases in WA to 147.

Ten exposure sites in Australind, Binningup, Myalup and Preston Beach were added to the list of locations visited by confirmed COVID-19 cases between Wednesday and Friday, with several locations being visited between Wednesday, January 19 and Saturday, January 22.

Australind Shopping Centre — including Coles — was identified as being visited on Wednesday, January 19, before Australind BP, Bunnings Australind and the Treendale Farm Hotel joined the list of exposure sites on Thursday, January 20.

Terry White Chemist Australind, Coles Australind, Footprints Resort Preston Beach and Puma Settlers Roadhouse in Myalup were also listed as exposure sites after a positive case attended the venues on Friday, January 21.

Puma Binngingup was listed as being visited twice on Saturday, January 22, once in the morning and once in the evening.

The West Australian revealed on Monday one in six of the new hospital beds ready to cope with WA’s COVID wave were being leased from private hospitals, which the doctors’ union said was evidence of last-minute crisis management.

The exact number of new beds available is 282, of which 154 — just over half — were at major tertiary hospitals: Royal Perth (72 beds), Fiona Stanley (48), Sir Charles Gairdner (22) and Perth Children’s Hospital (12).

None of the new beds are located at a regional hospital, but funding for a total of 530 extra beds, including 30 at Bunbury Regional Hospital, has been allocated — but they won’t all come online until October.

Across Australia on Sunday, 367 patients with COVID were in intensive care. This included 182 patients in NSW, 111 in Victoria, 41 in Queensland, 25 in SA and just one in WA.